


Why didn't you believe in me?

by fakebodies



Category: Tron (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Gen, just overall very sad, not a happy AU, poor tron™, terrible tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-22
Updated: 2016-07-22
Packaged: 2018-07-25 23:50:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7551949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fakebodies/pseuds/fakebodies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ram's faith is not as easily kept as Tron's.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Why didn't you believe in me?

Ram's faith is not as easily kept as Tron's. Ram is tired. Ram is broken. Ram wants to go home. He spends a long time sitting silently in his cell, and the next time Tron is sent to fight Ram requests to speak with Sark. The last thing he'd said to Tron was "good luck," and Tron had smiled tiredly in return. When Tron is returned to find his neighbor gone his gut twists and he does not smile.

Ram does not meet the User. Ram does not believe in them anymore, and all he sees is an old friend and a strange new conscript. Then again, Tron isn't a friend anymore. He stopped being a friend when Ram's circuits stopped being blue. Ram is never unkind to the programs beneath him, and when he goes to confront the escaped conscripts alone he tells himself it's because he knows how dangerous Tron is. Not at all because he misses his friend.

Tron doesn't recognize him at first, which is just fine with Ram. The other program is a clumsy fighter and Ram knows Tron recognizes his fighting style by the way his jaw clenches. When the new conscript doesn't derezz something in Ram's mind whispers _User_ , but Ram just dismisses it and turns to Tron. His not-friend, who had promised him everything would be okay when Ram had first entered the cells. Everything was not okay, but Ram doesn't blame Tron for unkept promises.

"What about RKleinberg?" is all Tron asks as he readies himself for a fight. Ram rolls his shoulders and takes a defensive stance.

"Why should I believe in a god who abandoned me?"

Tron gives Ram a look and the ex-actuarial program tries not to think about how he knows exactly what his eyes are saying. ( _"Why didn't you believe in me?"_ )

They fight, long and hard and Ram is sure he's going to derezz but his troop comes through the doors and restrain Tron. One of them claps him on the back and says how glad he is that they entered when they did, how they don't know what they'd do without Ram to lead them. Ram is well-liked by the soldiers, but Tron's eyes are screaming betrayal and Ram is disgusted with himself. The unconscious conscript is left behind as Ram pointedly ignores the too-silent security program.

Sark congratulates him. Sark says the MCP will be pleased. Tron is taken to be interrogated. It's not long after Ram returns to his room that he's told he'll be the one to interrogate the enemy. Ram nods, saying nothing as he closes the door on Sark's aide. He's too drained to care about this obvious test of his loyalty.

" _What about RKleinberg?_ " he thinks, before reminding himself that RKleinberg is inconsequential and that he has a program to interrogate- torture, really -later. A friend. An enemy. Ram isn't sure which. He doesn't hate Tron, but his circuits say otherwise.

Ram performs his duties with practiced ease. Tron doesn't scream, and Ram is left to his thoughts. Ram thinks red doesn't suit Tron. Ram thinks this is needlessly cruel. Ram thinks he might lock up. He doesn't, though. He finishes and leaves a barely-functioning Tron to the guards.

The new conscript turns out to be trouble, though. The new conscript breaks Tron out in a stolen recognizer and leaves Ram with a furious Sark. He heads out to hunt the escapees again, increasingly reluctant to rest. Tron gets to an I/O tower and as Ram helps try to break the door in he can't help but feel jealous. He's not sure of what, and he thinks again of RKleinberg's kind voice. He feels even more exhausted.

Everything gets increasingly worse. Ram is lead to the MCP's stronghold as Tron flees, is captured, and breaks loose again. He watches, hidden, as Sark is derezzed and brought back. It's when Tron's certain the now-giant program is going to end him that a red disk slams into its leg. The security program is sure it flared blue but he can't be certain. Ram, on the other hand, _is_ certain. Certain Tron will succeed. Certain he won't make it out of this alive.

He doesn't.


End file.
